Building Open Source Communities
summary
Practical lessons and concrete examples: early over‑engineering of forums and permissions kills activity—one forum with many empty boards and a protocol project led by three people aiming for a “perfect 1.0” both stall. Successful moves include creating a community committee as a peer to technical governance, welcoming non‑technical contributions that led to paid roles, and using GitHub plus Slack Discord IRC Twitter DMs email as needed. Core rules: don’t build too much, empower contributors, accept help, communicate broadly and stay humble.
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chapters (12)
- 0:00Intro
- 1:16What is Open Source
- 5:38Empty Spaces
- 7:37Red Tape
- 9:02Enabling Contributors
- 10:15Working Groups
- 12:13Accept Help
- 12:24Own Help
- 14:15Node
- 18:03Communication
- 21:38Be Humble
- 24:22Be a Steward
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